Bedroom Inspiration: Woodland neutrals with a touch of color

Hello friends,

       Tomorrow is my big moving day.  And by big, I mean not-actually-really-that-big-but-stressful-to-me.  I am only moving within the same town, and only into another bedroom, so I do not have to worry about a whole house full of stuff! I have been trying to bring something with me each time I head over to the new place so it makes actual moving day way easier!  I have been endlessly searching the internet, design books, and magazines for inspiration for my new space, and thought I would share some of what I found.  I do not have the money right now to actually by many new things at all, but I am hoping I can get a few thrifted and DIY items to give it a little different look!  I am keeping with my current color scheme of grey and white neutrals with pops of yellow, so I picked pictures keeping that in mind.  Without further adeau, enjoy!

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xo Hannah

Holiday Snippets

Hello!

    Phew, what a stressful week! Remind me not to plan a move during the holidays again.  The one good thing that comes from this though is that there are a TON of sales going on.  I ran into Urban Outfitters on my lunch break since it is basically across the street from my office on Monday, and got a great zig zag rug for my new room which was originally 75 bucks.  I paid $30, wahoo!  Actually, it looks exactly like the grey and white textured space behind my "The Braided Bandit" banner at the top of the page.  I love that it will bring a fun pattern into the space while still remaining neutral in grey and white. 

     I wanted to share with all of you a few pictures from my past week.  It feels so weird for Christmas to be over! Its always sucha build up for weeks and then it is over in a day.  I got so very lucky and spoiled this Christmas and I am really thankful for everything I got and my friends and family who I got to spend the time with.

 

 

 

 

 

     The first few pictures are of an ornament set I made my boyfriends mom.  I really love how they turned out, even if they took way more time and patience then I originally planned! I found the idea on the lovely blog Voyages of the Creative Variety, but changed a few things about them.  I am planning on doing a tutorial soon!  The next few pictures are just of pretty wrapping.  I love to wrap presents, I put way to much effort into something that just gets destroyed and thrown out within 5 minutes.  The one part I hate about wrapping though is when I do not leave enough time! Which basically happens every year...  I made my boyfriend little "Reinbeer" from a six pack of Wooly Booger Nut Brown Ale from the Grand Lake Brewing company in Colorado.  They turned out so cute! I got the idea from Modern Mom.

      One last thing I wanted to show you guys are a few pictures of me wearing my new fun and colorful hair extensions that I got to try courtesy of SO.CAP.USA.  They have actual natural hair colors, but I wanted to try some fun bright colors.  I wore them to work yesterday to try them out, and they were really easy to put in.  I wore a red one and a fuchsia one to match the dress I was wearing.  I have been getting pretty antsy about my hair, as I have been trying to let it grow out naturally for about a year now as you can see in the picture.  These offered a really easy way to change things up for a day though without doing anything drastic!  I think I am going to wear the little red streak when I go out for New Years Eve too.  The only issue I had is that my hair is really long, so even the long extension ended above my natural hair length.  I don't think it really looked too weird though because they blend well when you brush them with your own hair.  Anyway, you can head over to their site if you want to check out their fun color selection, they have over 90 varieties! You can also see my adorable turquoise key necklace I got from my boyfriend for our one year anniversary, which happens to be Christmas Day!

     Alright well I have a few more hours here at work before I head off to get my teeth drilled, ugh.  I hope you guys enjoyed the little snippets of my holiday festivities.  Get busy planning something fun for New Years Eve!

xo Hannah

Obey the Rebel Waltz

     Happy New Years friends! I hope everyone had a terrific time celebrating this weekend.  I find myself stuck at work today and lost in thought.  My mind lately seems to be a pendulum, swinging from highly excited and inspired about something to daunted and down, sometimes all within a few minutes.  I guess that is normal while welcoming in a new year, usually a time for change and new beginnings? 

     Before I ramble on more, I wanted to share with you some pictures that were taken while I was home in New Jersey a few weeks ago.  They were taken in Asbury Park in the old casino and carousel buildings on the boardwalk.  They are now very dilapidated, but still very beautiful and have tons of really cool history behind them.  Graffiti artists paint huge murals all over the huge walls, and the place is always filled with photographers.  I wish I had more time here, we just jumped out of the car for about twenty minutes because we were running early on the way to the airport home.

 

 

  

Outfit Details:

Dress, Scarf, Headband: Gifts

Tights: Sears Grand

Boots: Marshalls 

Jacket: Isis for Women

Hat & Gloves: Mukluk @ Target

     

     "Obey the Rebel Waltz" is what the black and white wall said, and you can find more info about Obey here.  Also, apologies for the boring outfit repeat, these were taken the same day as my holiday post!  As for my New Year's celebrating, R and I went to an Irish pub to have a delicious dinner of fish and chips and listen to a live band, and it was only a $1 cover.  Can't beat that!  I didn't get any outfit pictures, which I am kind of bummed about, so maybe I will throw it back on some time this week and snap a few pictures! I finished my move this weekend and now am in the unpacking phase.  I will try and share some pictures when I am happy with how it looks. Which at this point, could be awhile! Alright, more later, and I would love to hear about your NYE so feel free to leave links!

xo Hannah

Happy Holidays!

Hello Lovelies,

    Just wanted to say a quick hello and see how everyone's holidays were.  These pictures are from when I was home two weekends ago celebrating an early Christmas in New Jersey with my family.  Since they live in a small beach town, that is how our house is decorated.  Even the Christmas tree has mainly fish and ocean creature ornaments on it! 

   

 

 

 

 

Outfit Details:

Dress, Scarf, Headband: Gifts

Tights: Sears Grand

Boots: Marshalls

      For my trip home, I got to try out some neat little shampoo and conditioner trials courtesy of Naturtint USA. It actually worked out perfectly because I was able to carry on the little samples on the plane with no hassle! I got a little sneak preview, because they aren't available in US stores until early 2012.  Anyway, as I previously said, I really support companies who try to do things more naturally and take harsh chemicals out of their products.  I am pretty picky about shampoo and conditioner because my hair is so long, but I would recommend reading more about this company and checking them out when their products come to the U.S.!

      I also have to say I was glad to not be traveling yesterday on actual Christmas day. I spent it here in Colorado with my boyfriend and his mom, and it was pretty perfect!  We woke up, had coffee, and did Christmas presents round two for me! I absolutely loved everything I got and I think they really like their things too. I did a few homemade gifts this year, including these "Reinbeer" and these adorable ornaments. I tried to put my own twist on them, so I will be sure to share a few pictures of those soon too.  Alright, well I am off for now, this is my moving week plus I am working full time so it is a little chaotic! Hope all of you had the best holidays ever.

xo Hannah

   

Going Green in Style

Hi Friends!

     Sorry I have been absent this past week. I was home celebrating an early Christmas with my family in New Jersey, since they will be traveling on Christmas day.  The trip was way too short but I managed to see most of the family, friends, and places that I wanted to visit while I was home. It was filled with catching up, gift exchanging, and of course, eating a gluttonous amount of holiday treats!  

     Anyway, with the holidays right around the corner, I wanted to tell all of you about a lovely little cup I received in the mail courtesy of Keep Cup. I am not sure how many of you know this this, but my bachelor's degree is in Environmental Policy, and I currently work in the Environmental consulting field.  So, I get really excited about products that can combine my love for cute things with my passion for sustainability and eco-consciousness.  This little cup does the trick! I wish I had found out about this company sooner so I could get everyone on my list a Keep Cup in their favorite colors for the holidays.  

     I just wanted to quickly highlight some of my favorite parts of the Keep Cup and reasons why I would recommend it to any coffee fanatic.  My reasons are both as a conscious consumer, and from someone who appreciates the combination of aesthetics and function in a product. 

1. The Keep Cup saves you money!

It is much easier to do the "right" thing for the environment if there are monetary savings attached! One awesome part of using the Keep Cup at your local coffee shop instead of one of their disposable cups is that almost all shops will give you a discount on your coffee. Whether it be ten cents or fifty, if you are a coffee person like me, that change will add up quickly!

2. The Keep Cup has overall less impact on the environment than using disposable cups.

Most disposable cups are lined in plastic, bleached paper, and dyes, making it difficult to recycle even if the base is paper. Though made of plastic, the Keep Cup reduces your carbon footprint significantly if used regularly in place of a disposable cup.  We are finally getting used to the practice or recycling, but it is the practice of RE-USING that often makes the most difference in minimizing waste.

3. You can design your own Keep Cup, customizing the color and size of your cup on their interactive website.

This probably makes me a terrible environmentalist, but I think the fact that you get to design your own cup is my favorite part!  I think I have designed at least ten different cups for friends and family that I want to order. The cups come in four different sizes, and a ton of different color combinations.  You get to pick the cup, lid, plug, and band color, so the possibilities seem endless.  Even if you are not in the market right now, I would highly recommend going to their website to play around with all the options!

4.  The shape and design of the Keep Cup make it more functional than a regular coffee mug or disposable cup when you are on the go.

One last part about the cup that made it really convenient for me is that it fits in both my car and bike holders! You have no idea how many times I have tried to bring a mug of coffee in my car while in a hurry, trying to balance it in the middle in between my cup holder and emergency break.  Even better, when I ride my bike to work, I have never been able to stop for coffee because it spills everywhere in a disposable cup.  Though the Keep Cup is not air tight, it is completely spill proof and passed the bike test with ease :)

 

 

 

 

Outfit Details:

Tights: Ross

Boots:Marshalls

Skirt: thrifted

Sweater: thrifted

Hat: Apostrophe from Sears

Scarf: gift/ unkown

12 oz. Cup:c/o www.keepcup.com

Alright, well I hope that was helpful for all of you and not too preachy.  I had a ton of fun using my cup as a little prop in the photos, as coffee is usually my most important morning accessory anyway! In other news, I hope to have some pictures up from my trip home very soon too!  We took some really cool shots on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, and I cannot wait to share them with all of you.  I hope everyone is finishing up their last minute shopping and getting ready to spend some quality time with good food, friends, and family.  Take Care!

xo Hannah

*Disclaimer 1: I was not commissioned or paid to say good things about Keep Cup, these are my own personal, researched, and honest thoughts.  

*Disclaimer 2: Yes, I am aware I look like the Hamburglar in these pictures, though I did not realize it while planning the outfit!!

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

Hello Lovelies
      How was everybody's weekend? Mine was alright but seemed really short.  On Friday I got to go into Denver and stay over which I have rarely been able to do lately.  I went to The Tattered Cover on Saturday afternoon before heading home, which is my all time favorite book store.  It is huge, has a little cafe, baked goods, and coffee shop in it, and a mix of used and new books.  I could basically hang out in there for a whole day no problem just wandering around drinking coffee, reading magazines, and eating cookies!   If you are ever in Denver, I highly recommend you check it out if you like that sort of thing :)

 

 

 

 

Outfit Details:

Romper: UK Style by French Connection (from Sears Grand!)

Tights: Sears Grand 

Woven Purse: vintage from my mom

Cardigran: Target

Shoes: MIA pampa from DSW 

        These pictures were taken yesterday about five minutes away from my boyfriends house.  I apologize for the slightly ridiculous snowball tossing ones.  It took a few tries to get it and I look pretty silly, but I thought they were too funny not to share!  It is amazing that you can just drive up the mountain road for a few minutes in this town and feel like you are really secluded.  It is beautiful up there, I think it would be amazing to live a little bit further into the mountains.  It would be so peaceful yet you could still get anywhere in town in under twenty minutes!  I wish we had brought a picnic up there and just relaxed, but I was wearing brandy new shoes I got for my birthday, not the best for romping around!   I know it probably looks crazy wearing a little romper with no jacket surrounded by all the snow, but it was really nice and warm in the direct sunlight! Even being up there for a half an hour can be really rejuvenating and remind me how much I appreciate where I live.

        I know I have mentioned a little shopping discovery at a Sears of all places a few months ago.  I went back this weekend and still found tons of cute things! I am really liking French Connection's UK Style collection.  I am not sure if it is sold exclusively at Sears (Grand) or not, but it is pretty amazing.  And everything is always 40% off or more it seems, which works for me. Besides the little romper, which is pretty short but I feel is acceptable because of its nice winter hues, I also got these grey tights.  They are fleece lined and SO comfortable. I literally come home and sit around the house in these tights and an over-sized t shirt and I am one happy camper! Lastly, I found a black floppy hat like I have been searching for forever.  I felt pretty guilty about buying anything for myself during the holiday season, but they were such good discounts and I got gifts for others at the same time, so I am using that to justify it. Eek. Alright, well I hope everyone is having a good Monday so far! I will be traveling home to New Jersey Wednesday night to celebrate early Christmas, but I hope to get in at least another post before I leave!

xo Hannah